One week after a stressful NFC North divisional tilt, the Detroit Lions were faced with a similar situation. The undefeated Minnesota Vikings came to town boasting a historically dominant defense led by a coordinator that had given Detroit fits over the years. Despite the pressure on- and off-the-field, the Lions kicked off November with a win and gave Minnesota their first taste of losing.

The game as a whole wound up being overshadowed by a disturbing injury to star linebacker Jack Campbell. Players put their bodies on the line to win football games, yet freak incidents like these highlight why these athletes are people first and foremost. Jared Goff said it best:

Although Detroit walked away with a win today, the team had to weather a scary circumstance to the heart and soul of their team. For the sake of analysis, I will delve into “Winners” and “Losers”, but we need to remember that in the grand scheme of things, they do more for this franchise and fanbase than just play football.

Note: The label of “loser” is used to evaluate and contrast in-game performance and is not an indictment of a player’s ability, value, or character. The term is not intended to be disrespectful in nature.

Football is a chess match of player versus player and, more importantly, coach versus coach. The key matchup in this game was Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing versus Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. For Petzing, he boasted one of most potent offenses entering the week. For Flores, his defense had singlehandedly carried the Vikings to an undefeated record.

The outcome of this heavyweight tilt was arguably a split decision win for Petzing. Flores landed his fair share of punches (four sacks and a below-average passing day from the Lions offense), but it was a darn good fight from Petzing. Best of all, it showed resilience and adaptability.

After the first half, I was ready to crown Petzing as a loser, but the halftime adjustments worked wonders. In the first half, the Lions tried to run too many plays horizontal to the line of scrimmage. The Vikings capitalized, often tackling the Lions players for losses. The Lions only ran a few deep shots (mainly a 46-yarder to Jameson Williams) because there was rarely time for downfield routes to develop.

In the second half, the tune changed. Instead of running east-west, Jahmyr Gibbs broke free on a north-south carry and sprinted for a 30-yard touchdown. On the play prior, the Lions ran a Canadian Football League-coded play in which Amon-Ra St. Brown lined up deep on a screen play so he could get a running start. Something kicked in for the blocking up front and the offensive line went from getting pushed back to plowing their way downfield.

The Lions’ seven-play, 69-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter was vintage Lions football. They enacted their will against the NFL’s best defense, getting production from Gibbs (as expected) and Sione Vaki (unexpected). Just look at this turnaround:

On a day when the offense looked stuck in the mud at the start of the game, you have to credit Petzing for a complete 180 turnaround when it mattered most.

It was a subpar day for Goff, and I’m hardly factoring in his first interception of the season (a play in which his receiver fell down). In a game where the Vikings were bringing pressure nearly every snap, Goff looked out of sorts. He took too many ill-timed sacks, struggling to sense the pressure and throw the ball away in time. The Lions offensive line was getting worked by the constant blitzing and dynamic looks, but the burden ultimately falls on Goff to avoid drive-killing sacks. Holding onto the ball for too long is a death sentence in the NFL, especially against a defense like Minnesota.

Pressure aside, Goff was uncharacteristically inaccurate. His slight overthrow of Amon-Ra St. Brown in the endzone resulted in an overturned touchdown grab. Later on that same drive, Goff turfed an easy swing pass to Gibbs, a catch that would have been an easy touchdown jog for Gibbs. Later in the third quarter, he missed Jameson Williams for a sure-fire first down. In the fourth quarter, with a chance to extend the lead, Goff missed Sam LaPorta on third down (although the play would have been overturned due to a hold).

Thankfully, unlike in his early years, Goff avoided self-destruction down the stretch, limiting his turnovers to just that one pick. Goff delivered with a sharp touchdown throw to Williams to secure the lead, plus a beautiful block on a pair of Gibbs runs. However, I think he would be the first to tell you that he was not at his best on Sunday.

With the Lions struggling to find a shutdown corner amid injuries and poor play, the pressure was on Reed to step up. Over the last month, Reed has quietly been the top defender that the Lions paid him to be. Sunday’s game against the Vikings was perhaps his finest work, doing a phenomenal job of smothering the Vikings receivers. Justin Jefferson in particular had a quiet first half due when covered by Reed, only getting on the scoreboard due to a touchdown grab over Roger McCreary. Reed was credited with three passes defended and made a pivotal interception to set up a field goal late in the first half.

The unfortunate news is that Reed left the game in the fourth quarter after breaking up a fourth-down attempt, landing awkwardly on his hip. The Lions would certainly be worse for wear if he has an extended absence.

Winners: Jahmyr Gibbs and Sione Vaki, RBs

At first, the run game was floundering. At the half, Gibbs and Vaki had combined for 66 yards on 16 carries, but a bulk of those yards came on a 19-yarder by Gibbs and a 10-yarder by Vaki. On a majority of their touches, they were getting stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage. The Lions were drawing up a lot of sideways-moving plays and the Vikings were smothering it accordingly.

The rushing attack exploded in the second half. Petzing deserves credit for getting creative with his play calls, but the truth of the matter is that Gibbs and Vaki simply started churning out hard-fought yards. On the day, Gibbs finished with 22 carries for 153 yards and a touchdown, while Vaki finished with 11 carries for 65 yards (a career-high).

Gibbs is already cemented as a weekly “Winner,” yet Vaki’s rushing ability today showcased the proof of concept for him as a RB2. We had seen his blocking on display before, but now we got to see him shine with the ball in his hands as well. There was some speculation that the Lions could acquire a veteran running back via trade as insurance, but Vaki’s growth could make that moot:

Losers: Sam LaPorta and Tyler Conklin, TEs

Against a blitz-heavy defense, you often need your tight ends to pull double duty as blockers. As expected, the Lions leaned on Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, and Tyler Conklin often to help protect Goff. While Wright was serviceable in that capacity, it was a fairly disastrous day for LaPorta and Conklin. LaPorta and Conklin each allowed a sack of Jared Goff in the first half.

Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel in particular gave the Lions fits with his ability to both rush the passer and drop into coverage. LaPorta was often left guessing where the pressure was coming from. Conklin, meanwhile, only played a limited number of snaps (19 snaps), but his presence resulted in either an ineffective run block or a free blitzer—if you notice the third-string tight end, that is usually a bad sign. LaPorta had a better outing as a receiver than last week (three catches for 33 yards and a first-down run), but it would have been nice to see him have a more successful day as a blocker.

Winner: Jimmy Rolder, LB—Loser: Derrick Barnes, LB

Given the scary injury suffered by Jack Campbell, the burden may fall on Derrick Barnes to lead this linebacker group going forward. Prior to that moment, however, it was a surprisingly reduced workload for Barnes. At the time of Campbell’s injury, Barnes had played just 14 out of 36 snaps, matched by fellow linebackers Trevor Nowaske (14) and rookie Jimmy Rolder (15). It is difficult to say if this was a schematic choice or a performance choice, but Barnes had struggled in recent weeks with poor tackling and poor coverage.

Rolder was one of the highlights on defense despite his limited snaps. He tallied a sack of Kyler Murray and also netted himself a tackle for loss on an outside run by Jordan Mason. In fact, he actually wound up leading the team in tackles with five. The only real dark cloud on his day was a hamstring injury (the same play that Campbell got hurt on).

On the field, Barnes was not bad against the Vikings, but he is being outplayed by his fellow linebackers and is losing snaps as a result. Will that persist with Campbell injured? Hard to say at this point.

You might not realize it if you only listened to the national pundits, but McNeill is playing at an All-Pro level and might be the best defensive tackle in the NFC North—even if you factor in the recently-acquired Jeffery Simmons. McNeill continues to be stout in both facets. The Vikings had little running room thanks to McNeill’s run defense up the middle; Jordan Mason’s longest carry was a mere 11 yards, but it came on an outside run and not in McNeill’s area code. As for pass rush, McNeill continues to be a pocket collapser, this time sacking Kyler Murray for a big seven-yard loss.

Winner and Loser: Penei Sewell, OT
Blocking-wise, it was a great outing for Sewell against a tough defense, but his four penalties (one of which was garbage, however) hurt the offense on a day when they could not afford negative plays. Thankfully, the offensive line helped seal a win with two dominant drives late in the game.

Winner: Juice Scruggs, C
Cade Mays left the game with an ankle injury, but Scruggs was able to slot in without the offense skipping a beat. Scruggs is without question the most important backup on this team.

Winner: Skyler Gill-Howard, DT
After a tough stretch of games, Gill-Howard made an impact play with a sack of his own. His pass rush is still unrefined, but he is winning with explosiveness.

Winner: Keith Abney, S
Loser: Chuck Clark and Christian Izien, S
The Lions lost Brian Branch to a concussion, which meant having to cycle their safety group yet again. Abney had a good outing and continues to flash his range. Clark, however, looks slow as the deep safety and Izien was beat badly by T.J. Hockenson on a touchdown grab.

Loser: Jake Bates, K
Bates missed a 46-yard field goal, and in a low-scoring affair like this one, those are critical points left off the board.

Winner: Kelvin Sheppard, DC
Sheppard has done wonders to silence the critics, and the Lions defense has now pitched three good-to-great outings in a row. However, will that persist given the onslaught of injuries from this game?